What a Saturday!!!

`Saturday, June 27 – One of the best days of my life.

Today...wow...just wow. But before I blog about today I wanted to update from Friday. Friday was our day of lectures...three South African History Lectures to be exact. They ranged from Earliest Times to 1800, 1800-1948, and 1948-1994. In a total span of 4.5 hours, that sure is a lot to soak in. Our first professor covered the entire history of SA up until 1800 in about 10 minutes and then proceeded to spend the remaining hour or so talking about the Bushmen's history and their rock paintings. It was truly fascinating, and this guy was your typical college professor. He knew a TON but kept going off in 5000 different directions. Needless to say he was very entertaining and often stopped lecture to ask us if we were confused because he got off task again. The rock paintings that he talked about will be things we will be able to hike up and see later on in the trip when we stay in the Drakensberg mountains. The highlight of the lecture, however, was when he was trying to teach us the various different “clicks” used the the African tribal languages of Zulu, Xhosa etc. It was VERY entertaining to have a room of 25 people attempted to replicate different clicks. We had more than a few laughs. Our second lecture covered 1800-1948 which was pre-apartheid, but SO much history occurred during that time. The female professor took an interesting spin on it by relating some of the events to her Master's thesis on female slavery experiences in South Africa. She of course also talked about the history, but she shared some primary sources. Finally, our third lecture was by far the best. The professor is the head of the PoliSci dept at the University of Cape Town and will be a visiting scholar at Oakland University this fall. I would LOVE to audit his class. He spoke all about the Apartheid including the bans and other laws passed during the time. During the segregation he spoke about the status of schooling. The ratio of resources and spending for white students vs black students during the period was 100:1 which then increased to 1000:1. This was something I found to be truly shocking. The best thing about the professor was that he always related the South African History to American History. His ability to make connections between the Apartheid and the Trail of Tears along with the Civil Rights Movement made his lecture engaging and really helps me to work in some of the non-fiction into my American Lit course next year. All in all, I learned a TON, but I Feel like there is just so so so much more to know. I really would like to audit a class or two on the subject...but I'll figure that out later!

On the way home from the university, we always pass by the townships. We were stuck in heavy traffic on the way back so we got a closer look as the bus was stopped often. One of the saddest things I saw were the “street boys” who would go car to car and knock on the windows when they were stuck at a red light or in traffic. They begged for money, and it just broke my heart to see these young boys as young as 7 or 8 doing this to survive. Later on the drive home, a man selling tangerines approached our bus. A few of us were interested in purchasing the fruit from him so he boarded our bus. He sold a bag of about 30-40 tangerines for 3 rand, which is the equivalent of about 45-50 cents. I guess it was one of his ways to make a living...truly truly sad. But, on the flip side, I bought some and they truly are delicious. The disparity of wealth in Cape Town and across the country (as I would imagine) is truly disheartening...from mulch million dollar houses in Cape Town to the shanty towns full of poverty and crime just outside the city.

Friday night we ventured out on the town and 11 of us ended up at a Pan-Asian restaurant which included Thai, Chinese, and Japanese food. It was such a social and enjoyable dinner. We got to know one another very well and shared many laughs. The highlight of the dinner was when people shared their worst first date stories...I was laughing so hard tears were streaming down my face... And yes, I told that infamous one from college...(Umich girls – love you and miss you all! :)) After dinner a few of us headed out the Camps Bay, one o the wealthiest areas of Cape Town. One of the guys on the trip, Kim, has a brother living in Cape Town so 5 of us piled in his tiny hatch back car (including poor Tadashi in the actual hatch back of the car...too funny!) and headed out to see the city by night.

Ok, ok, on to today...what you've been waiting for. Today consisted of two things I was looking forward to most on the trip: visiting Robben Island and heading up to Table Mountain. We left on the 9am ferry to Robben Island to tour the museum where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for over 20 years. The experience was akin to my visit to Mathausen Concentration Camp in Austria a few years back. We were lead through the jail by a former inmate. Our tour leader was arrested for joining the ANC (African National Congress), and specifically for acts of terrorism. He was sent to Robben Island when he was just 17 years old and remained there for 7 years until 1990 when he was freed. He spoke of his experiences of sharing a cell room with 60 inmates with access to only 3 showers. He spoke of the torture, and of the labor. One person asked him if it troubled him to be back in the prison sharing his experience over and over, and his response was that it was very difficult at first, but has “helped to heal his heart.” The thousands of political prisoners who spent years and years there were put under higher security than those of the common prisoners including rapists and murderers. We also got to visit Nelson Mandela's 2 meter x 2 meter cell where he spent over 20 years of his life. Our guide showed us where Mandela hid his book “Long Walk to Freedom” which he wrote while he was imprisoned The entire experience was very moving and one that I will never forget. It just amazes me that the apartheid – something so horrible – occurred during MY lifetime and ended just 15 years ago. At the conclusion of the tour we headed back to Cape Town and were treated with more fantastic views of the city.

The planned activity for the afternoon was to visit a local craft market, but the day was just too beautiful so Kay and Rich decided we should head of Table Mountain. Now, I have seen some fantastic sites in my life, but I honestly can say that Table Mountain rivals, and exceeds almost all of them. Being at the top of that mountain overlooking the city of Cape Town and the Atlantic Ocean is truly breathtaking. I can't even put it into words...and unfortunately, like always, the pictures just do not do it justice. The day was sunny and clear and there was just a slight amount of clouds over the mountain, also known as the “tablecloth.” During the hour and a half I spent up there I took SO many pictures and just sucked it all in. In true Tracy fashion, I ventured off on my own after taking some fun pictures with my new friends. To me, there is just something about taking a moment of self reflection while experiencing such beautiful sights. I only wish I had my journal with me so I could have written an entry from the top. There really aren't any words to describe the beautiful views...and this is coming from a verbose English teacher. It was just...AWESOME.

I just got home (it's 1am now) and we headed to this AMAZING Italian restaurant and had a great dinner. I tried Springbok (kind of like an antelope) and it was pretty good. Not too gamey. Again, another fun dinner with fun friends. The restaurant had a graffitti all over the place where people had signed their names so we wrote all our names on a ceiling tile. Good fun!! Great night.

And to continue my list of random things I've observed/learned while being in South Africa:

1. South Africans really like Americans now that Obama is in office. One of our bus tour guides on Robben Island told me to say hi to Obama for him and tell Michelle Obama that he is waiting for her... The sure do have a great sense of humor!

2. Apparently when I tell a South African that I am from Michigan, they think I say MACHINE GUN. On the cable car up the mountain today I got in the tram and started singing “I”m so Excited” because, as many of you know, I do enjoy breaking into song every now and again. When the tram conductor heard me, he told me I was his VIP tram rider and made me sit next to him on the way up the mountain. This was when he asked me where I'm from, and well, the rest is history.

3. Food is REALLY cheap. I had the most AMAZING falafel sandwich from a stand and it cost me about $2.50 which also included a bottle of water. I am still sad that I haven't found any Doner Kebab stands...I could really go for one of those. It's been3 years..>I guess I need to go back to Europe!!

So all in all, I am having an AMAZING time. The people and places are just awesome. I miss you all and wish you could be here with me to experience all this...but for now, you'll just have to settle with experiencing it through my blog!!

Mom – I wore my pink shirt today! :)